TUCSON, Ariz. (Feb. 15, 2019) – The ETSU men’s tennis team played one of two matches in Tucson, Ariz. today at the Robson Tennis Center. The Bucs were defeated by Arizona on Friday afternoon, 6-1. ETSU falls to 3-3, while Arizona improves to 5-1.

Arizona was able to grab the first win of the match after Filip Malbasic and Alejandro Reguant defeated Yusuf Khamis (Cairo, Egypt) and Frazier Rengifo (Cali, Colombia) 6-1. Seniors Sergi Fontcuberta (Barcelona, Spain) and David Gonzalez (Barcelona, Spain) evened doubles play with a 6-4 win at the No. 3 spot. The No. 59 ranked duo of Juan Lugo (Maracay, Venezuela) and Chris Mikrovas (Athens, Greece) came up big for the Bucs, clinching the doubles point 6-6 (8-6), 8-6.

Jonas Ziverts handed Rengifo his first singles loss of the season, 6-1, 6-1 to tie the match at one. Miguel Este (Caracas, Venezuela) was defeated by Jonas Maier 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 6 spot. Igor Karpovets picked up a 6-1, 6-4 win over Juan Lugo. Filip Malbasic clinched the match for the Wildcats with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Fontcuberta. Arizona’s Renguant continued the Wildcats' win streak after defeating Gonzalez 6-3, 6-2 and Khamis battled in a three-set match to Carlos Hassey, but fell 7-5, 4-6, 10-7.

“I’m extremely disappointed in today’s match," shared head coach Martin Stiegwardt. "This is by far the worse match we have played as a team since last year. After the doubles I thought we would come together and keep progressing as the match went on, but that clearly didn’t happen. Kudos to Arizona for showing up and staying solid all match. We need to get a lot better if we want to compete with these teams that we can certainly beat. Tomorrow we have another tough challenge ahead of us and I’m expecting everyone to show up."

ETSU returns to action tomorrow, Feb. 16 at 4:00 p.m. (ET) to take on Fresno State.